Several Jōnin's expressions shifted slightly.
They quickly returned to calm.
Those words had touched upon the issue Konoha's upper ranks least wished to face.
After Lie Yang defected, the village had always believed that he owed Konoha.
Konoha had trained him.
It had given him ninjutsu.
It had given him status.
Therefore, he had to obey Konoha.
But no one could say how long that obedience was supposed to last.
Shikaku Nara swept his gaze across the room.
"People from two different worlds have no need to forcibly interfere in each other's affairs."
"Lie Yang should walk his own path."
"Konoha only needs to manage its own village well."
"As long as he does not actively harm Konoha, there is no need for us to keep relentlessly pursuing him."
"Nor should we always think that he owes Konoha something."
The Akimichi Clan's Jōnin slowly nodded.
The Yamanaka Clan's representative also relaxed his tense shoulders.
The Hyūga Clan's Jōnin did not speak.
Yet the agreement on his face was impossible to conceal.
The vast majority supported Shikaku Nara.
It was not because they had developed loyalty toward Lie Yang.
It was because they no longer wished to use the lives of their clansmen and subordinates to sustain a confrontation with no hope of victory.
Fugaku remained silent.
He neither nodded nor objected.
The Uchiha were too closely connected to Lie Yang.
Whether he supported or opposed him, others might overinterpret it.
Tsunade looked around.
These Jōnin who had survived the war were now silently urging her to abandon the confrontation.
She took half a step back.
Her heel struck a broken plank, making her stagger.
"You..."
Tsunade wanted to fly into a rage.
But when the words reached her lips, she forcibly swallowed them back.
At last, she looked toward Hiruzen